By Pastor William Y. K. Brown Ph.D
(Resident Pastor)
Seventh-day Adventist Church
Osu-Bethel.
Tel: 0244165628/0243310773.
wykbrown@gmail.com
SABBATH
THEME: THE DEFENSE OF GOD
SCRIPTURE: Job 42:10,12
“[10]And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. [12]Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; . . .”
REFLECTIONS:
Job’s life experience is a well-known Bible story that, over the years, has given hope to the hopeless, the suffering, the accused, and the misunderstood. Various lessons of immense help are drawn from his life and experience. He comes to the reader first as a faithful man of God, innocent, God-fearing, God-loving, dedicated, honest, good husband and father, compassionate, and caring. He was Christ-like; therefore, he became Satan’s target.
The devil hates anyone who is in Christ and will seek to accuse them even before the presence of the creator who transforms and sanctifies them. Thus, he is appropriately addressed as the accuser of the brethren. There is no gainsaying that Satan is a nuisance to every Christian’s spiritual well-being and growth. However, his role as our avowed enemy compels us to resolve to align with, stick to, stay, and remain in God. Job’s reverence for God, dedication, and commitment to a God-centered life posed a critical threat and challenge to Satan. His life, full of the presence of God, pulled down the enemy’s power.
Having failed to deceive Job on any point that will make him depart from God, he falsely accused Job before Him and equally slighted God as recorded in Job 1:9-11, “[9]So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? [10]Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. [11]But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” Satan is saying, God, do not tickle yourself into thinking that Job trusts and reveres you; he does so because of what you have done for him. He is not sincere about his claim to love you. I will prove that to you if you allow me to cause him to lose everything he has.
While Job lost everything, including his comfort and health, he maintained a stance: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.”- Job 13:15. This is a demonstration of implicit trust. His actions and endurance reflected Isaiah 45:22, “Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” He looked to God and only God. He would have failed if he looked elsewhere or listened to his friends. God defended Job, and He was vindicated for His defense of the man. God restored him after Job had gone through the crucibles (Job 42:10-17). The action of God affirms Psalms 30:5 – “For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.” Stop weeping, beloved; your morning will dawn in Christ’s name. God will defend you.
MY SONG OF COMMITMENT
SDAH 535 – “I am Trusting Thee, Lord Jesus”
LET US PRAY
– Praise and thank God for His defense; thank Him for defending you when Satan accuses you; pray to experience God’s promise to defend and uphold you;
– Pray for those whom Satan has falsely accused and accosted, people he dominates, and those he has inflicted pain, disease, and loss;
– Pray for God’s security for the nation, faithfulness among Christians in society, and the spread of the gospel of salvation among all ethnic groups;
– Pray for Job-like faith for your church members, our care for others, healing for the sick, and restoration of troubled marriages; thank God for the nation’s peace.
